Artworks are never finished, only begun. Is sound real? Some say no–rather it’s our brain’s reaction to minute changes in pressure. I guess this answers an age-old question: trees are quite mute when we homunculi are in absentia. So what, then, is the difference between noise and music? One of my favorite definitions–music as organized […]

When you hear the name Roomful of Teeth what image comes to mind? Perhaps a brutal Swedish metal group invoking a pagan mosh. Or maybe a mid-70s Italian exploitation film filled with vampiric episodes. In Pee Wee’s Playhouse both guesses would be correct, however this is the realm of new music where esoterica thrives and fragment-sentenced band […]

This past Friday, I saw the venerable new music juggernauts, the Bang on a Can All-Stars, perform works from their most recent release. The more general Bang on a Can collective (sans the all-stars) was started over 25 years ago by composers David Lang, Michael Gordon, and Julia Wolfe with the noble pursuit to create […]